Hot dry season is certainly here. Sometimes the evenings cool down to a balmy 30 degrees. I am struggling to stay alive at this point, and with good reason. I'm getting married!!!!! Weeeeeeeee! I have to hold on until August, and then I can feel that cool Maritime breeze once again. And wear a big white dress!
Though this heat is really taking it out of me, the good news is that all kinds of fruit are now in season. The elusive durian has made a comeback, as our neighbours can attest to by the smell of our room. And I've been eating sticky rice smothered in mango and coconut juice almost every day. I'm not likely to be able to squeeze into that big white dress when the time comes, but I'm clinging to the old carpe diem! Seize the day! I am seizing it spoons, forks, chopsticks and sticky hands. Yummy yummy Thailand!
The good news: I've got a new page up. Deep Esarn, featuring photos from last month's trip up north. The bad news: I didn't name the photos I uploaded and left them as numbers. Which means that they overwrote other photos I had previously uploaded. If you find some photos in inappropriate places (eg caption says it's me but in fact it is a water buffalo) please let me know.
I'm back from Japan and more than a little late in informing people of it. I've been back for a week now, but haven't had much chance to get in town to use the internet. I've got a new website up and running, though there are still a lot of bugs that need to be worked out of it. If you check it out, and have any advice or can point out spelling errors, please mail me. It's basically a site for people living in Japan or planning to travel to Japan. Many of you will find that it pertains to your lives even less than this rambling site!
http://japanophile.bizhosting.com
I'm just back from a venture into deep Isaan. Ryota and I hopped in the car Saturday night and headed north. Ryota had a rare two-day weekend (imagine that) so we decided to make the most of it with a little sight-seeing. First we went to the border town of Nong Khai and ate too much ice cream whilst taking in the lazy atmosphere. We could see Laos on the other side of the Mekong River, but we couldn't actually go there. The visas cost US $30 (approximately CAD $3000) each and we couldn't justify the ridiculous price, considering we wouldn't even be able to spend the night in Laos. Instead, we searched out Laotians in Nong Khai doing some free-market, cross-border shopping. I don't think that Laotians pay $30 for a visa. One, because that's more money than many Laotians make in a month, and two, because they'd need a wheelbarrow to carry that much cash to the border (the largest bill in Laos equals less than $1). But I digress.
We also went to Udon and visited an unusual flower nursery. Besides having bred an especially fragrant and beautiful orchid, the owner has also bred a flower that responds to human speech. This is one of those things that has to be seen to be believed.
I'm going to be posting photos from our trip bit by bit, but it may take a while. I'm leaving for Japan the day after tomorrow, so I probably won't be updating while I'm away. I should be back in Thailand by March 3rd, so there will be a steady stream of updates after that.
In the meantime, here is one page that I've managed to get posted from our trip. It's the impossibly bizarre sculpture garden of Wat Kaek in Nong Khai. Enjoy!
show me that wacky garden!
Oh- I almost forgot- I've added a site map. It became a little too time-consuming to update every page with new links. Time is money, in my case. Such are the inconveniences of working out of an internet cafe.
If you've lost sight of my insanity and need a guide, check out my site map here .
I've made a new page of photos from the town market. Here it is:
www.oocities.org/tamaraoleary/Pakchong_market.html.
I'm thinking that my website is turning into something monsterous. Look for lots of new pages soon, and maybe some better organization.
I've finally found a couple of web pages pertaining to Asian elephants that you might want to check out. There's actually a lot of charities out there that want to help, but I'm just going to give you the links to ones I personally know. The first is the respected WWF (the wildlife charity, not the pro wrestlers). Their site is really interesting and informative. Check it out at http://www.panda.org/how_you_can_help. Another option is available at the local Thai Elephant Conservation Center. Here you can buy unique artwork created by elephants who are unable to return to the wild. To see the art and the elephant artists, try http:/www.hqartgallery.com/elephant.html.
Happy Chinese New Year! I'm not sure how long these new year festivities last, but they seem to have been going on for a week or so already. II'm discovering that my new photography kick can sometimes be a painful hobby. Every time something really photogenic is going on, I realize that I didn't bring a camera. Aaagghhh! It leaves me wrought with frustration.Today is an excellent example. Whilst typing away at the computer here, I suddenly heard a chorus of drumming. A Chinese New Year parade, no less! Some dancing dragons came to the internet cafe, and the owner stepped outside. They danced around for him a bit and then he gave money to all of the dancers and to the dragons, too. Money collected, they proceeded on to the next shop. I really wish I could have taken some photos of the brightly-coloured dragons, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. It would have been difficult to catch the spirit and energy of it, anyway. Beating drums and hundreds of firecrackers just can't be captured on film. Which reminds me, I read in the paper today about a farmer who lost his chickens because they died of fright from hearing so many firecrackers. I thought it was funny when I read it, but I can appreciate their situation a little better, now.
I have recently been questioned as to why I choose to use such large font on my website. The reason: I wanted it to be easier for everyone to see. I hate to imagine my mother straining her eyes, and I simply don't want to feel responsible for the eyesight deterioration of loved ones. But I just tried previewing a page and I realized that indeed the font is rather ridiculously large. So I'm going to bring it down to normal levels and apologize to anyone who has to press their nose up against the screen to see it.
Yeah, about the elephants: It's one of those many things I keep meaning to mention but never do The elephants have reached a critical situation on the streets of Bangkok. It seems that the rising elephant unemployment is the cause of this, as they are increasingly being traded in for machinery to perform heavy work in rural areas. Because of this, elephants are now part of the tragic urban migration. They roam the streets and make a bit of money from the tourists who pay their mahoots to feed them peanuts or bananas. I don't have to tell you that the city is no place for elephants, and that none of them are looking all too well as they lumber through the streets. A lot of them suffer injuries by getting their feet caught in gutters and what not, although I suspect that is the least of their traumas. This has little to do with my daily life, of course, but I thought I'd get it off my chest. It's quite troubling. I'm going to see if I can find a charity that focuses on these elephants and put up a link here if I find one. In the meantime, read a related article that appeared in The Nation by clicking Here.
In other news, I had to archive the guestbook entries on this page. If you would like to see the archives, find the link at the bottom of this page, and reminisce over the lovely messages. If you can't be bothered to scroll to the bottom of this page but really want to read the archives, click here.
Bad news- I will not be able to take over the world through a small but relentless campaign of slowly filling the world wide web with useless web pages. I am getting a bit tired of travelling into town to go to the internet cafe every day.The bus I take is not a bus at all, but rather a pickup truck with a bench installed along the flatbed in the back. To make matters worse, it is rusting out and I can see the wheels through the holes and also little bits of road zipping past under foot. I'm starting to question the safety of using it regularly. This inspired me to look into getting a land line and eventually an internet connection. Imagine my surprise when I found out that there are no phone numbers available in Pakchong! Any mathematicians out there might be able to tell us exactly how many number combinations are possible with seven digits. I'm guessing a lot. Far more than the population of Pakchong, at least. I'm immensly disapointed. I'm really starting to get into this internet thing.
Since I will not be able to pass my time doing web stuff, I will have to find some new projects to fill my time. I will keep everyone abreast of the updates. I realize that I am not the only person in the world who is seeking out new and exciting ways to squander time. It will be my mission to spread the knowledge I gain
I'm also going to try to get a message board up. Thanks for the advice Kri...aahh... Kriptic mystery friend. (Yes, I know we don't spell Cryptic like that. I'm just testing you)
